We went up to Longmire at Mt Rainier National Park today. Drove across the Nisqually River to the Community Center where we had a gorgeous view of Mt Rainier. We hiked up the road about 200 yds to the Eagle Peak trailhead. The hike is to the saddle between Eagle and Chutla Peaks a distance of 7.2 miles round trip with 2900 ft elevation gain. We did not make it all the way up the trail. We did about a 5 mile round trip with about 1800 ft elevation gain.
This trail is mostly in the forest and starts climbing right away. We were glad to see their were footprints in the snow, showing someone was ahead of us, blazing the trail. There were a couple of large trees on the trail to be climbed over.
At about 4000 ft, we put on our snowshoes as we were post holing. The group ahead of us did not use snowshoes and were post holing ahead of us. There was over 12" of deep powdery snow, making for slow hiking with only two us with snowshoes.
I found the bridge crossing a bit daunting, as the snow and ice on top was uneven and there was no handrail. We took off our snowshoes to cross and I used micro cleats for added traction.
We continued snowshoeing until it was time to stop and eat lunch. We found a small clearing in a sunny spot to stop and eat. We had passed the group that was hiking ahead of us. They also turned back before reaching the saddle.
We enjoyed our hike, it was much easier going down, and there were a couple of places where we could see between the branches to Rampart Ridge across the Nisqually River.
I want to go back and do this hike when the trail is snow free.
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